WASHINGTON — Credit-market tremors — like the ones linked to the housing crisis — are beginning to show up in the $85 billion student-loan market.

So far, there is no apparent shortage of loans available to college-bound Americans. But analysts say rising defaults, coupled with a new law that cuts federal subsidies to student lenders, are beginning to strain the industry.

The rising defaults have surfaced amid falling home prices and rising foreclosures, trends that last summer touched off a crisis in global credit markets as investors faced the prospect of not being repaid on mortgage- backed securities.

In some cases, families whose home loans are resetting at sharply higher rates may be having a harder time keeping up to date on auto- or student-loan payments. A general tightening of credit is also probably making it more difficult to borrow from other sources to meet these payments, analysts said, and soaring commodity prices are eating into budgets.

Student lenders are under increasing pressure too. Following a crackdown by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, they have been forced to alter the way they do business. For example, they no longer are allowed to offer gifts to or share revenue with college financial-aid officers.

It is against this backdrop that, on Friday, First Marblehead’s chief executive cited “challenging times” as the company slashed its quarterly dividend to 12 cents a share from 27.5 cents and said it would not bundle any more student loans for investors during the fourth quarter. As this activity shrinks, less money will be pumped into the private student-loan market, which makes up 20 percent of the overall student-loan market.

Meanwhile, reduced federal subsidies and anticipated lower profits have led a number of banks and other student lenders to scale back discounts to borrowers, such as reduced interest rates for having payments automatically debited from bank accounts.

Sallie Mae, the nation’s biggest student lender, formally called SLM Corp., saw its $25 billion acquisition by a private-equity firm and two banks — Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase — scuttled and thrown into court. The investors argued the change would cut deeply into profits.

Sallie Mae reported that it wrote off $142.6 million for borrowers missing payments on student loans in the July-September quarter, more than doubling the $67.2 million writedown of a year earlier.

More in Business

In the last two weeks, the stock market has experienced higher levels of volatility than we’ve seen in some time. It’s left many people wondering if this is normal and healthy, or a sign of worse things to come. But what is normal?

Boulder County 4-H officials prohibited a gun display as an addition to this year’s annual tack show Feb. 24 at the Boulder County Fairgrounds just hours before 15-year-old 4-H member Tegan Brown told leaders she would not attend the event if firearms were present.

McDonald’s Happy Meal is about to get a makeover. On Thursday, the fast-food chain announced new nutrition standards for its kids’ meals and a series of upcoming menu swaps designed to make options for children healthier.

It happens in so many workplaces — two colleagues begin a romantic relationship. But a heightened awareness about sexual harassment means small business owners can get more anxious when employees start dating.